About This Site

My name is Graham and I'm from Canada. In 2010, I had double jaw surgery to correct my class-3 malocclusion (also know as a "severe underbite").

You can follow my day-by-day road to recovery on this blog. It took just over 90 days for my life to return to normal and the changes were well worth the trouble. If your bite has been bothering you for a while, I highly recommend this operation to correct it.

I found some courage and took a very unflattering shot of the splint that I continually whine over. As you can see, it’s fairly large and stretches all the way to the back of my mouth. The grooves my bottom teeth rest in can be faintly made out as well. If you squint a little bit, you’ll notice a little white spec in the center of my top lip. That’s a stitch, and it enjoys catching on my braces. It’s guarding the point where they began slicing the roof of my mouth open. I have a scar running from that point all the way to the back of my throat. It must have been quite the show.

I’m reporting a 0/10 pain factor today! I only receive pain on my own accord now, like when I’m yawning, running or playing sports. If I coast through the day completely emotionless and well-rested, however, I feel virtually no pain! I also knocked the inconvenience factor down by 1 point because, with my elastics off, I can open my mouth wide enough to swallow small chunks of soup. I still can’t chew though.

When my elastics are out, I can speak quite well now (unless I’m trying to say “Reese’s Pieces“). It’s so handy to be able to communicate at work again.

Speaking of work, I had quite a relaxing day yesterday. McAfee Antivirus, in all its wisdom, released an update that accidentally quarantined an extremely important Windows file. The purpose of the file was to load all of Windows’ services upon system start, such as networking and printing. Since McAfee made the file unreachable, any Windows XP computer that was updated lacked Internet connectivity and would also restart itself every couple of minutes, thus rendering the machine unusable. It’s been reported that over 1 million computers were infected worldwide. Think about that in terms of cash: if 1 000 000 employees can’t work, and they’re each making roughly $200-300 per day, that means McAfee just cost companies all over the world over $200 million dollars of damage. Oops.

Anyway, since all of the computers at work were down, we started the morning with a ping pong tournament, followed by a hula hoop lesson. I, unfortunately, lack the hips to master the hula hoop. I lucked out and re-established my dominance at table tennis though. I may not be good at many things, but I like to think I’m decent at ping pong (for a white guy). We also went to the park to throw a Frisbee around and then played cards afterwards. It was like a holiday. Here’s the clincher though: my system actually worked. For some reason, my computer wasn’t infected, so I was still able to work. I joined the festivities regardless. Nobody should be expected to sit behind a computer when it’s 25ºC outside.

In other news, I’ve figured out how to prevent these annoying sneezes that keep coming on: just look at the sun (or at any bright light, for that matter). As long as you’re looking straight up, your sneeze will flee. Brilliant!

I’ve also discovered that my new favorite soup is steak and potato Chunky. I accidentally burned it last night though. Then I accidentally placed the hot pot on our counter and burned a perfect ring into it. But hey, I said I was decent at ping pong, not cooking.

Want to chat live with other patients?

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9 Comments

Abby, that’s crazy that they gave you such a hard time, esp. since you were slated to have the surgery at such a young age! I have Aetna, and I was so worried I’d be doing all this prep with my orthodontist only to have them deny the surgery, but I had mine approved without a hitch. I guess I got lucky.

Mine worked out to $3300 for braces (dental covered $1500 off the original $4800) I looked into my Aetna claims post surgery, and so far it looks like I’ll only have to pay about $1500 out of pocket, which I almost don’t believe. It seems a little too good to be true! I did choose an option with a lower deductible at the start of the year in anticipation of this operation (I intend to move back to the cheaper plan next year), so that helps a lot.

Awesome to see you’re still replying to your blog! I am 31 days post op now, and have been following your blog since day 1. It really helps me!

Just wondering, was your swelling still lopsided at this point? I had double jaw surgery and genioplasty to correct an open bite and slight cross bite. Like you, I have only been able to articulate the very back molars and have never had the pleasure if sinking my teeth into ANYTHING….. Yet! Soon 😉

Melissa, my face was still very lopsided at the one-month mark. You can rest assured you’re at a perfectly normal spot in your recovery. Your face should rediscover its natural shape at some point between the two and three-month marks. Stay positive! =)

Graham, was your surgery covered in Alberta? I am putting a call into my insurance this week as it doesn’t say anywhere in my dental plan that it is covered. I know the actual surgery and hospital stay are covered but the surgeons fees are going to run close to $10,000.

Terry, my surgery cost me exactly $5000 in Alberta, complete with x-rays and follow-ups. Alberta Healthcare covered the rest (approximately $45,000, according to my surgeon). I had no special health insurance, so I paid the surgeon’s fees only.

Wowsers!! We’re very lucky here in Australia that the surgery is free.. It’s covered by Medicare. My braces are free because I’m going through a dental school otherwise they’d be approx $6500 to $9500. My daughter is also having braces and the double surgery although hers will be before mine ‘coz of her younger bone…. Reckon that gives me a chance to see how she goes and chicken out if need be? Lol

That is quite nice, isn’t it? I always feel a little bit sad when I hear of some of the bills people are left with in other parts of the world. We’re lucky to have such incredible healthcare systems in place in our countries.

Ahh my stitch that was in my lip fell out today! That was honestly the worst it felt like a sting every time I attempted my mouth puckering exercises! I’m sure you know what I’m talking about haha but so thankful it finally fell out and its only been 31 days post op.
Another thing that made me laugh was the sneezing haha I also sneezed for the first time and I literally felt it everywhere in my face haha it was a totally new weird sensation haha

“Over the past several years, I’ve done my best to respond to every comment on this blog, but unfortunately I no longer have the time to do so. If you have questions about jaw surgery and want to connect with others on this journey, please join the live chat group. Don't worry — it's free!”